1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) device, and more particularly, to an LCD device which prevents the permeation of an alignment solution into an outer circumference of a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the information-dependent modern society, the significance of display devices as a visual information transfer medium is recently widely acknowledged. Accordingly, various advantageous features may be important for display devices, such as low-power consumption, slimness, lightweight, and high-definition, need to be satisfied to continue to play an important role in the further development of the information technology.
Such display devices are classified into self-emission-type display devices in which display panels emit light, such as cathode ray tubes (“CRT”), electroluminescent (“EL”) display devices, light emitting diode (“LED”) display devices, vacuum fluorescent display (“VFD”) devices, field emission display (“FED”) devices, and plasma display panel (“PDP”) devices, and non-emission-type display devices in which display panels do not emit light by themselves, such as liquid crystal display (“LCD”) devices.
LCD devices display images using optical anisotropy of liquid crystals. In particular, LCD devices, along with PDP devices or FED devices, are recently garnering attention as a next-generation display device due to excellent visibility, relatively low average power consumption and a relatively small amount of dissipated heat, as compared to a like-sized CRT.
In general, an LCD device generally has a structure in which a lower substrate on which thin film transistors are arranged and an upper substrate on which color filters are formed are adhered to one another while having a liquid crystal layer therebetween. In this instance, since alignment layers are respectively provided on respective outermost surfaces of the lower substrate and the upper substrate, an initial alignment direction of liquid crystals is determined by the alignment layers.
The alignment layer is formed by coating a liquid-type alignment solution on a substrate and by performing a baking process.